Dan Carter continues to struggle with a calf injury but is likely to make the trip to Argentina with the All Blacks.

Blacks coach Steve Hansen said a decision on Carter’s fitness would be left as late as possible before the 28-strong squad is announced for the final two matches of their Rugby Championship campaign, the next against the Pumas on 30 September.

‘He’s [Carter] not running full noise yet. The medical staff think he will be [okay], but we’ll have to wait and see,’ Hansen said. ‘We’ll probably make a decision late in the week, probably Friday.

Hansen said he would have some difficult selection calls to make if Carter was declared fit.

‘[Keeping Beauden Barrett] is an option we’ve got, but we’ve got five props as well, so we might leave one of them at home and we have an extra loose forward too, so we could leave one of them home.’

Hansen said there weren’t any other serious injury concerns, but added that Richie McCaw did take a battering. ‘Richie’s probably the sorest. He has a pretty sore neck. He got a stinger near the end of the game and a hematoma in his leg, but everyone’s expected to be available to get on the plane next Saturday so that’s great,’ he said.